St. Augustine's Church

Józef Mikulicki, an official of the Warsaw gubernial treasury, donated a house and a plot of land on Dzielna Street for the construction of a new church. This project became possible thanks to the generosity of Countess Aleksandra Potocka, the widow of August Potocki, who decided to commemorate her late husband's name in this way, 25 years after his passing. The Countess allocated a huge sum of 300 thousand rubles for this purpose, which was a significant amount in those times. She also purchased two adjacent plots of land for the new church, allowing it to face Nowolipki Street.

Ludwik Górski, the executor of Aleksandra Potocka's will, became the head of the Church Construction Committee. Count Franciszek Czacki was also a member of the committee.

The architects responsible for the design of the church were Edward Cichocki and Józef Huss. Construction began in 1891, and the foundation stone was consecrated on October 20, 1892, by Archbishop Wincenty Teofil Popiel, assisted by Bishop Kazimierz Ruszkiewicz.

On December 10, 1896, the first Mass was celebrated in the new church by Archbishop Popiel, and the temple was consecrated by Canon Ignacy Durewicz. The interior furnishings were still being completed at that time. The formal consecration of the church by Bishop Ruszkiewicz took place in 1905, contradicting the date stated on the foundation plaque, which erroneously indicates 1896. In 1903, a parish was established for the church.

In November 1940, the church found itself within the boundaries of the Warsaw Ghetto. From July 1941 until the start of the major deportation action in July 1942, the "New Kameralny Theater" founded by the convert Andrzej Marek operated on the church premises. Despite the closure of the church, the parish priest, Father Franciszek Garncarek, and vicar Father Leon Więckowicz, continued to stay in the parish house. Father Garncarek was murdered by the Germans on December 20, 1943, while Father Leon Więckowicz was arrested on December 3, 1942, for aiding Jews and died on August 4, 1944, in the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. After the liquidation of the ghetto, the church was converted into a warehouse where the property confiscated from Jews was stored. Later, the church was profaned and turned into a stable. During the Warsaw Uprising, a German machine gun nest was stationed on the church tower. On August 5, 1944, the tower was damaged during the assault on Gęsiówka by a shot from a captured Panther tank fired by soldiers from the "Zośka" Battalion. The church's roof, bell tower, all exterior doors, and the 30-voice organ suffered significant damage in the fire set by the Germans. The rectory and parish house were also destroyed. The Germans had planned to blow up the church but did not carry out their plan.

After the war, the church remained as one of the few buildings within the former ghetto area. In 1947, with the funds allocated for renovation purposes by the Council of the Primatial Reconstruction of Warsaw's Churches, the church was made accessible to the faithful, and renovation work continued. In 1953, the vaults of the side aisles were plastered, and the bell tower was renovated. The area of the churchyard was reduced to make space for the surrounding residential developments.

In 2006, after many years of fundraising, the church purchased a digital instrument from Viscount, serving as a substitute for the pipe organ. The damaged tower roof, which had been affected during World War II, was also repaired, and the parish regained the adjacent plot of land that had been lost after the war for a housing development. On October 22 of that year, the church was ceremoniously illuminated, with the presence of Cardinal Józef Glemp and former Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. In 2009, the main church tower underwent renovation, and in 2013, the front façade was restored, followed by the restoration of the western façade in 2015.

The church was built of red clinker brick with stone architectural details in shades of brownish-red and beige colors. It has a three-aisled basilica layout and is enriched with a tall turret in the northeast corner. The elongated, five-sided closed apse is oriented towards the northwest. Flanking it are a pair of annexes with narrow porches: a sacristy on the north side and a chapel on the south side. Adjacent to the main body on the south side is the choir bay, housing a recessed porch and a narthex on the lower level. The two-story flanking facade is flanked on the left side by a tower and on the right side by an annex housing a chapel. Above the porch supported by three arches is a row of six semicircularly closed niches.

The upper level of the facade features a large rose window. The central part of the facade is crowned with a triangular pediment. The tall tower is divided into six unevenly sized levels with windows of various shapes. The side aisles are buttressed by simple escarpments, topped with small flat-roofed cubic structures. The main nave and the apse are covered with a common gable roof, while the side aisles have shed roofs, and the tower is topped by a tall polygonal spire. The interior of the main body is covered with cross-ribbed vaults on arches in a tied system. The side aisles are enriched with recessed chapels created by setting back the buttresses enclosing the main body. The main nave is illuminated by pairs of rosettes in each bay, below which are groups of three blind windows opening to the space under the shed roofs.

The tall rectangular windows of the side aisles are arched and divided vertically by wooden mullions into three parts.

The interior features a variable system of supports. The aisles are separated from the main nave by columns enriched with double pilasters. The pilaster shafts extend to the walls of the nave, terminating below the cornice in Corinthian capitals with putto heads. Between the columns, there are pairs of arches supported by Romanesque columns on the axis. The cubic capitals are decorated with a floral composition. In the front bay, above the narthex, there is a choir gallery. The gallery is supported by three arches separated by a pair of Romanesque half-columns. The three-bay presbytery is covered with a barrel vault on arches, and it is closed from the north side by an apse. The articulation of this part of the building is denser compared to the main body. Under the entire structure, there are vaulted cellars.

The Neo-Romanesque tower of the church, once the tallest in Warsaw (70 m), is crowned by a 5.1 m cross placed on a 1.35 m diameter sphere. Originally gilded, the sphere was painted black in 1959 on the orders of the authorities to dispel rumors of miraculous appearances of the Virgin Mary on the sphere and the gathering of believers under the church.

In 1995, the black paint was removed, restoring its original appearance. On the north wall of the church, there is a cross placed there to mark the beginning of the third millennium. On August 28, 2002, it was consecrated to the victims of Pawiak prison by Monsignor Wiesław Kądziela. In the main altar of the church, there is a sculpture depicting the Holy Family.